New Book Disputes Conspiracy Theories Of Kennedy Killing

Published: August 23, 1993

One of the largest private investigations into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy has concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald was a lone assassin with no credible ties to any conspiracy.

Gerald Posner, whose findings will be published by Random House this week in a book called "Case Closed," also said he had proved the widely criticized theory that both Kennedy and Gov. John Connally of Texas were struck by a single bullet that emerged only slightly damaged.

Excerpts of the book were made available Saturday by U.S. News & World Report, which is devoting a special issue to the book. The book says that only three bullets were fired by Oswald and over a period of eight seconds, not 4.8 as previously thought, meaning that he had more than enough time to fire his deadly fusillade.

Mr. Posner's book also challenges point by point a generation's worth of conspiracy theories, including the one in the recent film "J.F.K.," which portrayed Oswald not as a lone assassin but as part of a plot that could have involved high officials of the United States Government.

Mr. Posner, whose previous research helped solve the question of what happened to Josef Mengele, the doctor at the Auschwitz death camp, used the most advanced computer techniques available to analyze the famous film of the Kennedy assassination made by Abraham Zapruder, an amateur photographer.

On Monday the National Archives will make public 800,000 pages of Government documents on the assassination. The release is the result of legislation passed last year. The papers will include files from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Central Intelligence Agency, presidential libraries, the State Department, the Defense Department, the Warren Commission and Congressional committees.